Many visit Las Vegas to enjoy the hotels, casinos, and other amenities. However, with the large number of people in the area comes the possibility of serious accidents, including property-related accidents and motor vehicle collisions, possibly causing debilitating injuries.
A Las Vegas tourist accident may cause an accident victim to incur medical bills and experience ongoing pain and suffering, sometimes for many weeks or months.
If you recently suffered injuries in a tourist accident in Las Vegas, you need a local attorney to handle your case every step of the way. Since every jurisdiction is different, a lawyer in your hometown may not have the experience necessary to address the specific personal injury claim that you are making in Nevada.
In addition, an attorney who is not local may not even have the required license to practice law in Nevada.
On the other hand, a local Las Vegas personal injury attorney can speak with the police, obtain additional documentation (including medical records), and conduct a local investigation promptly.
Your lawyer can then file a claim on your behalf, negotiate with insurance company representatives, or litigate your case to a resolution in the Nevada court system.
Every step of the way, your lawyer will aggressively advocate for you and your legal interests by pursuing the maximum monetary compensation you deserve through a favorable settlement offer or litigation.
Types of Tourist Accidents That Occur in Las Vegas
Various accidents in Las Vegas may injure tourists and require ongoing medical treatment. In any situation, these accidents result from the negligence of others. Common accidents include car crashes, swimming pool accidents, parking lot accidents, elevator and escalator accidents, and slip-and-fall accidents on someone else's premises.
Car crashes in Las Vegas typically occur when drivers violate various traffic laws or drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs. A car accident may also occur when a driver exhibits road rage or fails to observe the road.
The injuries that a car crash victim suffers will typically depend on their bodily movements inside the vehicle at the time of the crash, as well as the force of the collision and the number of collisions that occur.
With the number of swimming pools at hotels and resorts in the Las Vegas region, swimming pool accidents may also occur. Swimming pool accidents may happen when a hotel or resort does not have enough lifeguards on duty at a particular time. Alternatively, accidents may occur when lifeguards and pool managers fail to keep the pool deck area in a reasonably safe condition and free from large puddles of water.
In addition to swimming pools, Las Vegas resorts frequently have parking lots and garages. Serious accidents may happen when drivers fail to watch where they are going. Many parking lot accidents occur when drivers fail to use their rearview and side view mirrors when backing out of a parking space.
However, parking lot accidents may also happen when premises owners do not have adequate security personnel or cameras. For example, a third party may attack a property visitor on the premises due to inadequate security.
Many hotels, resorts, and shopping centers in the Las Vegas region have elevators and escalators. Property managers and owners are responsible for maintaining this equipment and ensuring they are always in the proper working condition.
When property owners fail to properly maintain escalators and elevators on their properties, and one of these malfunctions causes an accident, the property owner or their insurance company may need to pay for the resulting injuries and other complications.
Finally, property owners have a duty to maintain their entire property in a reasonably safe condition for the benefit of property visitors. Specifically, they must inspect their premises for previously unknown hazards and warn about or repair hazardous conditions within a reasonable time.
When property owners and managers fail to take reasonable care of their property, serious accidents may happen, including slip and fall occurrences. Slip and fall accidents are widespread at restaurants and local grocery stores, where food and liquid tend to spill onto the floor. If a property owner fails to clean up the spill within a reasonable amount of time, and a person falls and injures themselves, they may suffer serious injuries.
If you, as a tourist, sustained injuries in one of these accidents, consult a Las Vegas personal injury lawyer as soon as possible.
Your lawyer can properly investigate the circumstances of your accident, visit the scene, and determine your eligibility to file a personal injury claim or lawsuit. Your lawyer can then help your case progress and pursue the monetary recovery you deserve for your accident-related complications.
Legal Elements of Proof in a Las Vegas Personal Injury Case
To recover monetary compensation for injuries you suffered in a tourist accident, you must satisfy several legal elements of proof in your case.
First, you must establish that the at-fault individual or entity owed you a legal duty of care. For example, in a slip-and-fall accident, the property owner likely owed you a duty to keep their premises in a reasonably safe condition at all times.
Next, you must establish that the other party violated their legal duty of care. For example, the other driver might have violated one or more traffic regulations to cause a Las Vegas traffic accident.
In a slip and fall accident, a property owner or manager might not have repaired a defective condition on the premises or cleaned up a spill within a reasonable amount of time. In addition, to recover monetary compensation, you must show that your accident was a direct and foreseeable result of the other party's negligence.
Finally, you must demonstrate through medical testimony that your injury or injuries directly resulted from the subject accident.
A personal injury lawyer in Las Vegas can retain one or more experts who can testify in your case. For example, a medical expert can physically examine you, take the witness stand, and testify, based upon a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that your injury or injuries directly resulted from the subject accident.
They can also testify that one or more of your injuries are permanent (for example, paralysis) and that you will experience ongoing pain and suffering for the rest of your life.
If the at-fault party's insurance company disputes fault for your accident, your lawyer may retain a certified accident reconstructionist who can visit the occurrence scene, review photographs and video footage, speak to witnesses, and draft an opinion about how the accident likely happened and who caused it.
Tourist Accident Injuries
The injuries an individual may suffer in a Las Vegas tourist accident will depend upon various factors, including the type of accident that happens, the level of force involved in the accident, and the specific circumstances leading up to and surrounding the accident.
Some of the most common injuries that Las Vegas tourists suffer in accidents include road rash, open cuts and lacerations, bruises, rib fractures, broken bones, soft tissue contusions to the neck, back, or shoulders, spinal cord injuries, full and partial paralysis injuries, internal bleeding, internal organ damage, traumatic head and brain injuries, mouth and teeth injuries, eye injuries, and death.
If you suffered any of these injuries in a recent accident that was not your fault, you must get the medical care you need as quickly as possible. If you receive treatment at an urgent care facility or emergency room, the medical provider on duty may recommend that you continue your medical treatment once you return home.
Follow through with all recommended medical treatments. By doing so, you increase your chances of making a full recovery from your injuries. You also portray your case in a favorable light to insurance companies’ settlement adjusters.
While you tend to and take care of your injuries, a Las Vegas tourist accident lawyer can begin gathering your medical records and other documentation necessary to prove the legal components of your personal injury case.
Gathering Evidence to Prove Your Case
In any personal injury claim or lawsuit that involves a tourist accident, the injured accident victim has the sole legal burden of proof. The insurance company and the at-fault individual or entity do not need to prove anything in the case.
To satisfy their legal burden, an injured accident victim's personal injury lawyer can gather certain documents and other evidence that they can use at trial.
Documents you may need in a personal injury case include:
- Incident reports
- Police investigation reports
- Injury photographs
- Photographs of the scene
- Video footage
- Expert reports
- Medical treatment records
- Medical bills
- Lost-income documentation that demonstrates that the accident victim took off work following their accident.
After you complete your medical treatment, your lawyer can submit these documents to the insurance company as part of a settlement demand package. The insurance company will not simply take your word regarding liability or damages, so you need a lawyer to gather adequate evidence to present a strong case from the start.
Negotiating With the Insurance Company or Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit
Following a tourist accident, insurance companies do not have much incentive to adequately compensate you for your accident-related injuries and other losses. Instead, insurance companies will do everything possible to settle your case as quickly and cheaply as possible.
Insurance companies want to save themselves as much money as possible, and they pursue this goal by lowballing the value of a personal injury claim as much as possible. They might also pressure you to try to resolve your case quickly.
When negotiating a fair settlement compensation with the at-fault party’s insurance company, you need to have a skilled attorney on your side advocating for you throughout your case. Your lawyer can determine whether a particular settlement offer is reasonable, given the facts and circumstances of your case and the extent of your injuries.
Your lawyer can then help you decide whether you should accept a pending settlement offer from the insurance company or reject that offer and litigate your case in the Nevada state court system.
Your attorney can also handle all settlement negotiations on your behalf and go back and forth with the insurance company adjuster, attempting to convince them to increase their settlement offer.
Your lawyer can point to favorable expert reports, medical records, and other documents in your case or threaten the insurance company with litigation if they refuse to compensate you fairly for your losses.
Speak With an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer in Las Vegas Today
If you sustained injuries in a Las Vegas tourist accident, time is of the essence. According to the statute of limitations, injured accident victims have only two years to file a personal injury lawsuit in Nevada. Otherwise, they may inadvertently waive their right to recover any monetary damages for their injuries.
By seeking experienced legal representation as quickly as possible after your accident, you increase your chances of recovering the compensation you need to truly become whole again after your accident. Additionally, find a lawyer in the local area to ensure that they comply with all the relevant state laws that may come into play in your case.
As soon as you retain a lawyer in your case, they can enter an appearance on your behalf and begin handling the legal aspects of your case, such as gathering documents and assembling a settlement demand.
Your lawyer can then handle all settlement negotiations with insurance company representatives on your behalf and, if necessary, file a lawsuit and litigate your case through the court system.
You can now rest easy knowing that your lawyer is fighting your legal battles for you while you focus on the most important thing: recovering from your injuries.